Drifters Galley Restaurant

Gross bland unsalted food everything straight from the freeze. Watching this guy cook my food and violate 20 different health code violations… lord help me not to get sick!

As someone who has been a barista for 6 years, this place was an incredible disappointment. My fiancé wanted an Americano and I watched the guy tinker around with the machine for about 2 minutes before starting. When he pulled the shots, he didn’t turn the portafilter enough and it spewed water and the shots only pulled for about 5 seconds (for reference… At the coffee shops I work at, you dump your shots if they don’t reach at least 18 seconds). The barista then proceeded to PUT THOSE SHOTS IN MY FIANCE’S AMERICANO. Even my fiancé was able to look at his coffee and knew that it was incredibly watered down.
After watching the whole coffee fiasco, I decided to just get an orange juice. When we left, I noticed the date… It had been expired since April 28 of this year. My fiancé threw his coffee away after about 2 sips. I’m not a fan of Starbucks… But they look pretty good in comparison.
I know it’s close to the ferry… But I wouldn’t recommend this place to even the most desperate person.

Had time to kill waiting for the ferry. Ordered fries and a double cheeseburger. Someone else in the party ordered the BLT. Sandwiches were ok. Fries were horrible. Will probably not eat there again.

I wish I could give a negative number of stars. Service sucked, time wasted because this girl at the counter was busy checking who tipped and who didn’t by going thru receipts rather than taking orders. Then they forgot to make our food. Good thing I am two ferries behind. Good thing they are located in the prime location.

First of all, this rating is a bit of a misnomer since I actually didn’t get to eat there. On my home a few minutes ago, while waiting for a late ferry I stopped in hoping to get a burger to go.
No big deal I’m thinking. So I step up to the bar a wait a couple minutes to order. The bartender doesn’t seem overly busy as there were less than 10 people in the place. After another minute or so I spot a stack of menus, I grab one, look it over and then place it in front of me to give her the hint. Instead of asking if she can help me or stating that she’ll be right with me she has a convo with her waitress, letting her off for the night (which further illustrates how slow they were). At this point I know she’s going to take my order but no, instead she starts unloading and loading glasses in the dishwasher. In this whole exchange she walked by me several times and made eye contact.
I could have gotten her attention or interrupted her conversation but if I’m in her face and you don’t say one word to me, I think she should find a new line of work. At that point bailed.
One of the other posters who posted 2 hours before me said they were too busy checking who tipped them. Just think how much more they’d get tipped if they gave excellent service?
I won’t be back.

It works if you’re looking for a decent yet greasy burger and fries meal. But I must say, this is the only place around where I can find an ice cream flavor from my childhood, blue bubble gum ice cream.

Stopped in for drink and a bite. The French dip was good, fries could have been crispier. The service we received was great. Very friendly.
People should try being nice to the staff and you usually get it back. If you enter a place like this expecting a 5 star dining experience then you’re going to be disappointed.
It’s an older place, needs updating but we found servers friendly and food ok.

Good food, nice location. LOVE the chicken and ortega chile burger. Nice place to sit and have a Blue Moon beer on tap with an orange slice and have lunch or dinner. A bit overpriced, but the service has always been good. Also great to stop by and get ice cream.

Do not eat here… Not sanitary and staff do not care. Avoid at all cost… I ordered clam chowder and watched as they heated it up in the deep fryer, just didn’t seem right. Then I headed to the bathroom and saw the guy who was serving ice cream and sodas come out of the men’s room with his gloves still on. Finally my husband ordered a burger, he took a bite and found the plastic tie for the buns smashed into the bottom of his bun!!! Not sanitary and staff do not care. Avoid at all cost…

Really Good Food. Make a Great Fish and Burgers and Fries especially Bacon Cheese Burger (W/​Pepper Jack Cheese and Fried Onions). Had they’re ice cream before and it was awesome as well.

Ordered a simple burger and fries, and both tasted like charcoal, the fries so much so that they were inedible. From reading other reviews, sounds like everyone else has had similar problems. If the place wasn’t in such a prime spot, there’s just no way it would still be open.

Food sucked, service was worse. Ordered «Halibut» for $ 12.50, 20ish minutes later received cod fish and chips. Dry, flavorless fish and batter. Some of the fries weren’t cooked all the way, all of them limp and bland. Crackers that came with the tasteless clam chowder were stale.
Took them much longer than it should have to acknowledge we were there and bring us menus. Once served water and a beer, the server asked us if everything was alright (didn’t take our orders)
They had crayon’s for kids but only a blank placemat to draw on. I wouldn’t take your kids even though they have a small kids menu, the rudeness of the servers is an influence best avoided.
I sincerely wish I had read the reviews on Unilocal prior to eating there. I will not be returning to this place, ever.

Drifters personifies what I think of as «old Kingston» cuisine — fast, not as good as you’d expect for the price, and fried fried fried. I can’t imagine that this place would still be in business if it weren’t for the constant stream of suckers, I mean customers, who are waiting for the ferry.
Having said that, if what you’re looking for is fried food that is cooked pretty quickly, this is the place for you. I’ve had several varieties of their fish and chips, and they’re all fine. Not Ivar’s by any means, but fine. The french fries are worth mentioning: they make them from scratch themselves, which is why they are mushy rather than crisp (this is what they told my husband after he complained about them). If you want crispy fries get the curly fries. Or if you’re willing to pay more and wait longer, go to the Ale House (although they now have steak fries rather than regular fries, which neither my husband nor my daughter liked, but I digress).
Fried food, coffee, and ice cream. They are all here and they are all OK. If you want better fried food and have time to wait, go to the Ale House (The Filling Station is probably better too, but the redneck atmosphere scares me away); if you want better ice cream go to Mora; if you want better coffee there are half a dozen other better options within a block of this place.
Other reviewers have complained about the service, but that seems to be fairly par for the course in Kingston. You may need to assert yourself to get served, but it’s not because the staff doesn’t like you — it’s just how it is.
Caveat: I’m talking about the little takeout/​dine-​in «restaurant» (this seems like a fancy name for what is basically a counter and a few tables) in the front, not the bar in the back. I’ve never been back there.

Hours aren’t correct. Went in at 950 and they were closed. Major fail. Guess they don’t need the business. Their hours are posted as being open until 11.

Treble service one person working and rude as hell. Picked up and left! She was upset that a party of 8 came in. Business lost and we tip…

If I could give less than a star I would. The employees here are very unwelcoming and don’t really seem to care about anything other than a paycheck. I get it. You’re working your after school job. It’s burgers. I’m not expecting you to kiss my ass. But maybe a smile and ‘what can I get you?’ Instead of the ‘do you want food’ that I received would have made me see past the fact that the place was pretty gross and unclean.
Side note: It was super fun finding raw meat inside my husbands burger and the crispy black fries that taste like old raw fish were just divine!

Walked in with the family and stood at the counter ready to order. At no time were we greeted or acknowledged. I asked, «Can we order?» and I received more of the backsides that I had been looking at since we walked in.
I proceeded with doing my favorite response to be I ng ignored… call the place while I’m in line. That worked. It got the angry, not-​happy-​to-​be-​working-​there twosome to turn around and acknowledge out presence.
Long story short…
Even after paying the crew didn’t even make eye contact nor thanked us for our business. The manager of the place also didn’t acknowledge us being there, so they cannot claim ignorance to their staff’s behavior.
One of the more indifferent, poor experiences for a simple burger order I’ve ever had. Never going back.
Oh yeah, everything we ordered was overcooked.

This place is great for beer or wine (not a full bar) and a game of pool, but not for the food. We ordered the fish and chips and the «Delicious» chicken sandwich… neither was good. The fish was bland and not fresh. The chicken sandwich was just O.K.
However, if you are looking for a place to hang out and listen to your favorites on the juke box or shoot some pool, this is the place for you.
Wait staff has gotten some scathing reviews here, but we found our server to be attentive and friendly.

2.5 stars for service and food. 4 stars for convenience, right next to the ferry terminal.
Came here for a bite on the way home after spending the afternoon in Poulsbo. Arrived and got in queue at the ferry terminal about an hour before departure so we had a little time to kill and we decided to go to Drifters. Unfortunately, I can’t say I would give this place a second try.
Sat down and never got waters. My friend was really hungry and was planning on ordering a burger so I asked the server if she could bring out the fries early. Apparently that was very confusing for her, so we had to order a side of fries to start then ended up with extra fries that came with her meal.
The fries were actually quite decent (think, Dicks fries but larger), but that is about the highest compliment I can give this place. We waited almost 20 minutes before asking the waitress if our food was on the way because we had to catch the ferry. (It was not busy when we sat down around 8pm.) Five minutes later the food came out in paper bags, even though we did not ask for it «to go».
Anyway, it was all very average. I got a turkey melt, and the cheese slice was not all melted! Lol. I also got a side of chowder — the chowder was average/​fine but the saltines were stale. Sad face. Also the server forgot to give me a spoon for my chowder, and it took a while to hunt her down even though she only had like three tables total.
I don’t expect the world when I go to restaurants like these just because they are pretty isolated, and if the food is decent I don’t complain. But very average food mixed with very average service here made this place somewhere not high on my list of places to revisit. It is pretty convenient though I’ll admit.

This review is for food only and the only reason I tried this place out was because the creperie across the road was closed.
I ordered a chicken sandwich. It was fried chicken with a pickle, some lettuce, a tomato stuffed between a bun. I was tired, I needed some food to keep going. That is the only reason for eating here. The food is very very very okay.